“supertalls” and those going over 600-metres fall  into the incredibly rare “megatall” category.

Only four buildings in the world have ever  achieved this status and none of them are  

in New York or even in the Western Hemisphere  - which doesn't make a lot of sense when you  

consider that a city like New York sits on solid  bedrock, has very little space and therefore  

needs to build upwards and kind of knows a  thing or two about skyscraper construction.

So why isn't there a megatall skyscraper in New  York City? The answer lies deep within its soul.

New York's lack of megatall skyscrapers  actually has nothing to do with engineering.  

It's entirely feasible to build  over 600-metres high in the city  

thanks to solid bedrock and an incredible  amount of expertise in the local area.

If you wanted to build a megatall then  you could - but that's the problem.  

Hardly anyone wants to build a skyscraper that  high in this city for a whole host of reasons.

Firstly, there just isn't the demand.  Manhattan's office market - which drove  

construction of the Empire State, World  Trade Center and One Vanderbilt

had become saturated before the pandemic and will  likely take some time to recover afterwards.

The luxury real estate market, which drove the  construction of several super slender towers  

from small parcels of land along Billionaires  Row in recent years has also been cooling off.

Those structures only really became  financially viable because of the  

prices they were able to command  for their location and park views.  

You couldn't let commercial space  for anywhere near the same rate.

Past megatall skyscrapers have cost well over a  billion US dollars to construct, so any developer  

would need to recoup a pretty considerable sum  from office or residential lets to make a profit.

But past megatall skyscrapers were  not constructed in New York -   

a market that frequently tops the list of the  world's most expensive cities to build in.

Project's here cost several hundred  dollars more per square foot to build  

than in the Middle East or Asia.

The availability of land in New York City  also dramatically increases development costs.

While engineers have pioneered a  way to build slender skyscrapers  

that maximise floor area on very small sites,  

no slender tower has ever exceeded 472-metres  and megatalls require much larger bases.  

Any developer would have to acquire the right size  site in one of the world's most desirable cities.

But even owning a suitable site doesn't give you  licence to build as high as you'd like - and all  

projects have to adhere to the city's strict  zoning regulations to get planning permission.

The rules use a floor area ratio  equation to control the height of  

a structure relative to the size of  it's site and surrounding context.  

To build tall, developers have to acquire  air rights from nearby properties - in  

separate legal transactions - and  stack them onto their own sites.

Those building megatalls would need to acquire  enough rights to rise above 600-metres.

Unfortunately the barriers to constructing a  megatall skyscraper in New York don't end there.

Even if there was the demand and you were able  to make the business case work, find the right  

size site and acquire all the air rights you need,  one final and highly emotive hurdle would remain.

One World Trade Center rises from ground  zero in Lower Manhattan to a height of  

1,776 feet - a nod to the year of American  Independence.  

Often dubbed the “Freedom Tower” the skyscraper is the tallest in the city and holds huge symbolism for many New Yorkers.

Though there's no official rule about building  taller, doing so would be extremely difficult.

Central Park Tower has a higher roof  line than One World Trade Center but  

was forced to abandon earlier plans for a  large spire in the face of public outcry.  

Even if you preserved through the public  scrutiny, there aren't many city mayors who  

would allow such an unpopular planning  decision to go through on their watch.

Looking beyond New York, megatall skyscrapers  are always a serious undertaking wherever  

you build them, and each of the four  constructed around the world so far  

has had more than its fair share of challenges  - from engineering and economics, to politics.

In reality there's yet to be a fully  occupiable 600-metre-plus building.

The Burj Khalifa is accessible up to its 163rd  floor, 585-metres above the ground.  

You can go 583-metres up in Shanghai Tower  and to 494-metres in Abraj Al Bait.

Merdeka PNB 118, currently under construction in  Malaysia, joins the megatall club because of its  

near-144-metre high spire. Its highest occupiable  floor is actually 500 metres above ground.

Building above 600-metres is not a practical  endeavour, but one undertaken for status.

The 828-metre Burj Khalifa was not  built out of a need to densify Dubai,  

but to bring the world's tallest building to the  city and put the United Arab Emirates on the map.

New York has no hunger for such status. It's  already a world city attracting talent and  

investment from across the globe,  with multiple iconic skyscrapers.

Though not impossible, it seems unlikely that  a megatall will ever emerge from these boroughs  

and that the city most synonymous with the  skyscraper may actually have topped-out  

with one of its most revered structures.

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